Comments by "Richard S" (@RichardEnglander) on "Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain -- Why Prof. Ed Husain is Worried." video.

  1. After Mo died 632 his position was then filled by a series of Caliphs, they continued the expansionist policy of imperialism and colonialism as they spread Islam by the sword. I'll outline the history into Europe, but don't forget the expansionist policy also spread west into North Africa all the way to Morocco, and further East to China.  I'll be brief in my outline: By 668 jihad manifested itself outside the walls of Constantinople 711 Islamic armies invaded Spain 800 years of fighting followed until 1492 The jihad engulfed more nations than the Palestine-bound Crusades (there were 8 of these between 1096 and 1270, less than 200 years, they wanted to establish themselves in the holy land which was formerly Christian) Far grander jihad continued as Muslims wanted to take and occupy Europe and Islamize it. Large parts of Europe were taken and occupied for centuries, sometimes devastated and some of it Islamized. Spain Portugal France Italy Sicily Austria Bosnia Serbia Croatia Hungary Romania Wallachia Albania Moldavia Bulgaria Greece Armenia Georgia Poland Ukraine Eastern and southern Russia All Jihad battlefields where Islam conquered or was conquered. Many of those lands were occupied by Muslims, in some cases by Arabs or Moors, in others by Ottoman Turks, usually for hundreds of years. Spain 800 years Portugal 600 Greece 500 Sicily 300 Serbia 400 Bulgaria 500 Romania 400 Hungary 150 years - a place particularly ruined/plundered and ravaged and it took 200 years to recover. Muslims came and occupied a huge part of Europe, the Turks besieged Vienna twice in 1529 and 1683. Their cavalry raided central Europe, riding into Bavaria almost as far as Nuremberg. They fought in Poland and the Ukraine, crushed Hungary, occupied Belgrade and Budapest for hundreds of years. The Moors and the Arabs took Spain and Portugal, invaded France through the Pyrenees, turned Sicily into an Islamic island, raided Rome, sacked St Peter's and obliged the pope to pay tribute. From their base near St Tropez they raided Switzerland as far as Lake Constance on the German border. The pirates of the Barbary coast raided England, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland and brought back thousands of slaves for the markets of Constantinople (after they had turned it into Istanbul) and North Africa. The Mongols threatened Moscow, occupied the Crimea and became Tatars. The Persians marched into Georgia, so did the Turks, who also occupied Armenia. Some imagine that the sack of Jerusalem in 1099 was the start of the hostility between Islam and the West, they handily ignore the capture of Jerusalem from the Christians in 638, the invasion of Spain some 70 years later by the Arabs and Moors, and the subsequent 800 year occupation in whole or in part of the Iberian peninsula. It is interesting that the west has by-and-large forgotten this history, but it hasn't been forgotten by orthodox muslims, those who see the eventual expulsion of the invading force as a shame, and who seek to take back the lands of Al Andalus etc. It is in quite stark contrast that western Europeans do not celebrate their colonialist past, yet there are significant numbers of those within dar-ul-Islam who consider their colonialism to be a glorious one.
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  2.  harrym  I know loads, speak to them daily, they speak of losing Al Andalus as some terrible persecution and insult, yet they were colonialist occupiers for 800 years! The natives took it back!
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  3.  @smallfeet4581  didn't forget as such, wrote plenty. I think i made it clear that is was focusing on the western expansion, but totally agree with you. Look at Afghanistan which was once a happy Buddhist and some others place. So sad.
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  4.  @seekwisdom7757  most welcome! If you want to read more then get the book Jihad by Paul Fregosi
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  5.  @smallfeet4581  sure thing, no worries mate
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